WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.
WHERE: EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
RECORDS: Mason (2-1), CSUN (1-1)
SERIES RECORD: First meeting
LIVE VIDEO: A-10 Digital Network
LIVE AUDIO: A-10 Digital Network
LIVE STATS: Click here
GAME NOTES: Click here (PDF)
TICKETS: Click here

GAME OF THE WEEK: Free Paisano's Pizza for all Mason students w/valid ID

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason University men's basketball team (2-1) wraps up a two-game, Cancun Challenge homestand with a Saturday contest vs. Cal State Northridge (1-1).

Tip-off between the Patriots and Matadors is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside EagleBank Arena. Saturday's game will be streamed on the A-10 Digital Network, featuring commentary from Bill Rohland. Pre-game coverage will begin at 5:45 p.m.

PATRIOT POINTS
• Mason begins the Mexico portion of the 2017 Cancun Challenge vs. Louisiana Tech on Nov. 21 (6 p.m.). The Patriots will then face either Fresno State or Evansville on Nov. 22 (6 or 8:30 p.m.). Both games will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.

• The Patriots opened the Cancun Challenge with a 69-57 win over Binghamton on Thursday. Mason shot a season-high 47.3 percent from the floor and held Binghamton to 26.1 percent in the second half.

• Junior Otis Livingston II played his best game of the season with 19 points on a perfect 5-of-5 night from 3-point range. The five 3-pointers tied his career high and he added six assists.

• Freshman Goanar Mar added a career-best 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Sophomore Justin Kier chipped in 13 points and is the only Mason player to have posted 10+ pts in all three games.

• All five Mason starters are averaging at least 10.3 points. Kier (+9.5), Ian Boyd (+4.4) and Jaire Grayer (+2.9) are well above their scoring averages from a year ago.  

• Mason is +1.7 in turnover margin through three games. Last season, Mason's season average was -2.8.

• The Patriots' 7.4 steals per game also far eclipses last year's average of 5.0. Kier (3.0 spg) and Grayer (2.7 spg) both rank in the top-10 in the Atlantic 10 in the category.

• Mason received its first bench points of the season vs. Binghamton, with freshmen Greg Calixte (4 pts, 2-2 FG) and Javon Greene (2 pts, 1 ast) scoring their first collegiate buckets.

• The Patriots, despite fielding a roster of strong free throw shooters, have struggled from the line through three games (29-55, .527). As of Friday, that ranked 332nd out of 349 teams (KenPom.com). Last season, Mason ranked 43rd nationally (.747).

• The Patriots rank 328th out of 349 Div. I teams in the KenPom "experience" stat (1.07 yrs/player). In a survey conducted by NCAA Div. I sports information directors, Mason was listed as one of just 10 programs nationally that returns four or fewer letter winners from the 2016-17 campaign.

HISTORY vs. CSUN
Saturday's game marks the first ever contest between Cal State Northridge and George Mason in men's basketball.

HISTORY vs. BIG WEST OPPONENTS
Mason is 4-1 all time against teams currently in the Big West Conference. Mason has played Cal Poly (2-0), Long Beach State (1-1) and the UC Irvine Anteaters (1-0). The Cal Poly and Long Beach State games were home-and-home series set up by former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Paul Westhead during his early years as bench boss of the Patriots in the mid-1990s. In the most recent meeting with a Big West team, Mason defeated UC Irvine 79-56 on Nov. 10, 2005, as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Winston-Salem, N.C. The game was the season opener of Mason's 2005-06 Final Four season.

A LOOK AT THE MATADORS (1-1, 0-0 BIG WEST)
CSUN was picked to finish seventh in the 2017-18 preseason Big West poll. Senior Tavrion Dawson leads the Matadors as a Preseason All-Big West Conference selection and has shot 45 percent from the field through two games this season. Last year Dawson was the only player in the Big West to average at least 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. As a team, CSUN has begun the 2017-18 campaign with a 1-1 record, defeating Life Pacific 76-50 (Nov. 11) and losing to Fresno State 73-89 (Nov. 13). The Matadors, under fifth year head coach Reggie Theus, have thrived from behind the arc with a 47.2 3-pt percentage and have taken care of the basketball only averaging 8.5 turnovers per game. Those two stats rank 14th and 13th in the NCAA respectively.

UP NEXT
Mason flys to sunny Cancun, Mexico for a two games in the 2017 Cancun Challenge. The Patriots open the Mexico portion of the event with a 6 p.m. contest vs. Conference USA power Louisiana Tech on Tuesday (Nov. 21). The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network. Mason will then either play Fresno State or Evansville on Wednesday (Nov. 22) at either 6 or 8:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The games will be held at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.

#GetPatriotic